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Interview: Gigantic

Smashed Records is a cool independent power pop/ garage label based in the Gold Coast that we’ve had contact with over the last couple of years. Rohan Belton who heads the label approached us about doing a limited edition vinyl release and we were aware that Smashed has had a lot of success overseas with their vinyl. So we are really excited about having our first vinyl release! The disc is a 10 inch picture disc titled “On the Verge of Something BIG” and all the copies have been individually autographed by Paul and I.

Is it a new release or a single off the previous album? The tracks on the 10 inch do appear on the Gigantaphonic Sounds album but it is the first time they have been released on vinyl. And we hope in time the vinyl release will become a bit of a collectors item. It has already been chosen to appear in a rare vinyl museum in Belgium.

You completed an international tour earlier in the year. What positives came out of it? Where was your favourite country to play? Yes in February and March we played a stack of shows in Europe and the USA, including an appearance at the SXSW Festival which was awesome. It was great to finally get out there and do it and to meet a lot of the band’s overseas supporters face to face. Our favourite shows were in Spain because the fans were just so into it. We even had four fans from Madrid fly over and follow us for some of the US dates. And the Neo Winery in Aranda De Duero, Burgos has produced a limited edition Gigantic wine with us on the label.

Where is Gigantic having the most success as a band? As mentioned earlier, Spain is where we’re enjoyed the most success. In Spain we are signed to Barcelona based Bip Bip Records who have done a great job of introducing us to Spain and we’ve had a lot of support from indi and national radio and television. We’re really grateful for everybody’s support over there and we can’t wait to get back to play some more shows.

What lays ahead in the next year for Gigantic? Well we’ve got the BIGGER! BETTER! STRONGER! World Tour that we are about to kick off with shows lined up in Australia, Japan, USA, Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, Spain and back to the USA a second time on that tour. We’re really excited about playing the POPKOMM Festival in Berlin and the CMJ Music Marathon in New York and getting back to Spain.

We’ve had a busy couple of years of steady touring in support of the last few releases. I think we’ve toured Australia five times, we’ve toured New Zealand and this will be our second big international tour this year so after this tour we are going to take a long break from playing live to work on new material and new recordings.

How do you see the Perth music scene after touring to other countries? I think the Perth music scene stacks up pretty well. There is a lot of talent here and it is relatively easy for bands to play shows. In countries like Japan and the US, there is a lot of pay to play so for bands without labels, it can be pretty tough. Whilst these days our success is greater overseas than it is here and we don’t play in Perth as often as we used to, we really enjoy playing local shows with like minded bands. And it’s often a great way to check out some local talent as there are usually two or three other acts on the bill for us to enjoy as punters.

What’s the average day like for you as a touring band overseas? There’s often a good few hours of waiting around at an airport or some other form of travel. Then get into town, find the hotel and maybe duck off for a radio interview or something. Then to the venue for sound check, grab a bite to eat and wait around for the most fun part, playing the show! Because of the travel element, there’s a fair bit of hanging around on tour which can be a real drag but when you get to play your shows it’s all worth it.

What do you miss about home, when on the road? The main thing I miss is sleep because I don’t sleep so well on planes and trains and on tour there is not often an opportunity for a good nights sleep. You have to learn to squeeze in a couple of hours here and there. And touring overseas earlier this year, I found I really missed the good old Aussie meat pie. When we were in Spain, I tried very hard to describe to our Spanish tour manager what a meat pie was to see if he could assist in finding one or something similar in Spain but he just looked at me really strangely and had not idea what the hell I was talking about!